Mt. Langley trip was everything we hoped for!

Our hiking adventure to the top of Mt. Langley in the Sierra high-country was terrific! Chris Langdon, Trey Roby, Bill Fisher, Jonathan Cox and myself had very rewarding 4-day trip into the John Muir wilderness last week ( Thursday July 31 to Sunday Aug. 4 ). The hike was strenuous at times—the trail going over old Army Pass on our way up to Mt. Langley was very steep and rocky but because we had a relaxed schedule with plenty of time to reach our destination we could set a pace that didn’t exhaust us. Everyone was in good shape—no leg cramps or altitude sickness. Chris Langdon lead the way and knew the area well. Near the top of the mountain we encountered a number of different trails going different directions but he kept us on track. Jonathan took a slew of photographs with his fancy digital camera, often rushing ahead of us to get that “perfect shot.” At one point we had a surprise encounter with a herd of at least 30 Bighorn sheep making their way down a distant ridge. As we reached the top of Mt. Langley the scenic views were amazing! At 14,000 ft. the wind was chilly and blew quite strong, I had to fight that eerie feeling of vertigo as I stood only a few feet from sheer cliffs that dropped thousands of feet to the valley floor. We found a metal box with a ledger book inside—we wrote our names in it and enjoyed a quick snack and then headed back down. That same day we relaxed at base camp and I tried to do a little dry-fly fishing, but the winds made my efforts frustrating. I did manage to catch one good sized golden trout ( then put him back) Beautiful fish. The next day we had a nice hike back to Horseshoe meadows, drove down into Lone Pine for a late lunch and then home. We all agreed to plan a similar hike next summer on a different route to Langley and add a few more days to climb Mt. Whitney as well. Can’t wait until the summer of ’09!